page_title: Romania in Antiquity
section_title: Greek colonies
hierarchical_section_title: Romania in Antiquity / Towards Roman occupation / Greek colonies
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Kingdom of Pontus, Before the reign of Mithridates VI (darkest purple), after his conquests (purple), and his conquests in the first Mithridatic wars (pink); little adds (ancient shorelines &amp; some greek colonies under Mithridate's rule) according with V. Yanko-Hombach, A.S. Gilbert, N. Panin, P. M. Dolukhanov: The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement, Springer, Netherlands, 2007, and with Appianus, Plutarchus &amp; Strabo.
context_page_description: The Antiquity in Romania spans the period between the foundation of Greek colonies in present-day Dobruja and the withdrawal of the Romans from "Dacia Trajana" province. The earliest records of the history of the regions which now form Romania were made after the establishment of three Greek towns—Histria, Tomis, and Callatis—on the Black Sea coast in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. They developed into important centers of commerce and had a close relationship with the natives. The latter were first described by Herodotus, who made mention of the Getae of the Lower Danube region, the Agathyrsi of Transylvania and the Sygannae of Crişana.
  Archaeological research prove that Celts dominated Transylvania between the middle of the 5th century and the end of the 3rd century BC. The Bastarnae—a warlike Germanic tribe—settled in the regions to the east of the Carpathian Mountains around 200 BC. Confrontations between the natives and the Roman Empire began in the late 1st century BC. Among the former, the Dacians—who were closely connected to the Getae—rose to eminence under King Burebista.
context_section_description: Callatis, Histria and Tomis accepted the suzerainty of King Mithridates VI of Pontus around 110 BC. His expansionist policy clashed with the interests of the Romans who had by that time started to advance in Southeastern Europe. The governor of the Roman province of Macedonia, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus forced Callatis to sign a treaty of alliance with the Roman Empire in 72 or 71 BC. According to MacKendrick, it is plausible that Histria and Tomis concluded a similar treaty with the Romans around the same time, because the empire needed their ports for naval bases in the Black Sea.
  The three towns made an anti-Roman alliance with the Bastarnae, the Getae and other "barbarian" tribes in 61 BC. They inflicted a decisive defeat on the Roman armies which were under the command of Gaius Antonius Hybrida, Proconsul of Macedonia. King Burebista of the Dacians subjugated the three Greek colonies in about 50 BC. An inscription from the same time refers to the "second founding" of Histria, implying that it had been nearly destroyed during the previous wars.
  Callatis, Histria and Tomis regained their freedom after the death of Burebista in 44 BC. However, their independence became nominal and they accepted Roman protectorate after the expedition of 27 BC by Marcus Licinius Crassus in the lands between the Lower Danube and the Black Sea. The Roman poet, Ovid spent his last years in exile in Tomis between 9 and 17 AD. His poems evidence that barbarian attack was a constant menace for the townsfolk in this period.
  Would you care to learn the nature of the local inhabitants,
  find out amid what customs I survive?
  They're a mixed stock, Greek and native, but the natives –
  still barely civilized – prevail.
  Great hordes of tribal nomads – Sarmatians, Getae –
  come riding in and out here, hog the crown
  of the road, every one of them carrying bow and quiver
  and poisoned arrows, yellow with viper's gall: 
  harsh voices, fierce faces, warriors incarnate,
  hair and beards shaggy, untrimmed,
  hands not slow to draw – and drive home – the sheath knife
  that each barbarian wears strapped at his side.
  — Ovid: Tristia
caption: The expansion of the Kingdom of Pontus under Mithridates VI (c. 120–63 BC): (1) the kingdom before his reign (dark purple) (2) after his conquests (purple) (3) his conquests in the First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) (pink)
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